The Beautiful and the Psychotic

Chapter Fifteen

I didn't end up having time to straighten my hair, but that wasn't the biggest issue at the moment. The biggest problem was the fear for Bella's life. If you go into B500, there's no small chance you're going to die. If David hadn't been a quick thinker, I could've boiled to death. It was a real possibility. I just hope Bella's punishment wasn't so severe. But knowing what Jamey had done? It could very well be so much worse.

I sat at dinner in the usual spot across from Ava. She was, for once, not wrapped around Jamey's arm, as Jamey wasn't at dinner. I guessed he was off dealing with Bella and Ethan, which scared me even more. Bella obviously wasn't there either.

I ate dinner in almost-silence. After dinner David and I walked together to the meeting, wondering what it was about. The room was small, with several couches and chairs set in a circle, filling up quickly with managers. Some people had to sit on the floor, due to the large numbers following the mass promotion. David took the last spot on a chair, and I sat on his lap. He wrapped his arms around my stomach, making sure I didn't fall off the chair. My heart was fast from my dread for Bella. Was it even possible, to have a heart racing from anxiety?

Either way, the room filled quickly. Mason was already in the room, standing on a table in front of a projector, waiting for stragglers. He did a quick head count, and finding everyone was here, began his announcement.

"Everyone's here? Great. Good evening managers, both new and old. We're here to discuss jobs for the newly promoted. New managers to this side of the room-" Mason pointed to his left. "-and old ones here." He pointed in the other direction.

I joined the parting crowd as Mason began to speak again. "Each new manager will take on the same job as one of the old ones. Each job group will be split in half, with a mix of new and old, to work either morning or night, midnight to midday, or vice versa, with the exception of trainers, who will simply go two trainers to a newcomer."

Mason began to go through the job options. Overseer, an easy job but not very interesting. Trainer, not as easy, but more interesting. Stylist, fun but in high demand. Photographer was the same. Being a doctor required experience which I lacked.

Mason now picked up a laptop which I hadn't noticed before and started clicking, the things he was doing appearing on the projector screen. "I now have a program where I've entered your names. The computer will spit out a list of names, and each person will come and pick a job," he announced, taking a bunch of what looked like name tags out of his pocket. "The job you pick will be yours until the start of next year, which is the job reassignment."

The first name was somebody called Summer K, who chose trainer, followed by a Claire, who chose photographer; Oscar, who picked overseer, and then Natasha, who chose to be the new stylist. Both a male and female Riley chose trainer, then Alice, who became our new doctor, apparently a medical student. I was the next, and I chose trainer, which had been my first option anyway.

The rest of the newly chosen managers picked their jobs, the majority of them being stuck with overseer for the next ten months. I pitied them.

I wound my way to my new room, not sure where David was. Luckily I remembered the way for once, as my memory is usually bad. David was either way in front or way behind me, as I lost him in the crowd of people.

I knocked gently and opened the door, to see David sitting on his bed, head bowed. The TV sat muted in the background, replaying some old black-and-white movie silently.

"Are you all right?" I asked him again.

"I'll be fine," he insisted. But when I went to look at his face, his eyes watered.

"No, you're not." I sat next to him, pulling him into a hug.

"I'm almost sure Bella's going to die," he said. "I think I know what 16's doing."

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked softly.

"Oh, I don't know. It's all up to whether or not Ethan is selfless enough."

As it turned out, David knew exactly what was going on.